This past weekend I headed to Machias, Maine for the 30-somethingth Wild Blueberry Festival. Growing up I was always involved in the harvest and never got to attend the festival. Now I try to make a point of going to the festival. A town further south has started up a competing festival that has really done a lot of harm to the Machias Festival.

However, in recent years the Bee Hive Collective has breathed some life into the staid festival. They have brought bands in from out of town to play, organized a repair of a dance floor, and started the Blackfly Ball. I regret that I was unable to attend the Ball this year but hope that next year I can do so.

I was surprised to see a marching band go through town as well as my favorite little park dressed up for the occasion.

Sadly the competing fair has drawn away many of the usual sellers and thus many of the interesting things that were sold there aren’t any longer. Over the last few years I’ve felt the festival has been declining, the addition of the Bee Hive Collective has brought to it some great energy.

(I mean, c'mon, how often do you get to see a man dressed in pink on a 6 foot high unicycle in Machias, Maine?)